This-evening we're going to take a look at the gift of
speaking with tongues. This actually means "a single
tongue" and not to a faculty for speaking in various
languages.

At Babel all spoke with other tongues, and no
man could understand his neighbor but at Pentecost"every man heard in his own tongue".
Pentecostal impersonators today are the apostate daughter
churches of mystery Babylon, and like the citizens of Babel they
are seldom inspired of the Holy Ghost to interpret the tongues in
which they speak and their services are a "Babel" of
confusion.

As Paul set the Gifts in order in the Ephesian Church Age,
Brother Branham restored that order in the Laodicean Age,
according to his commission in Joel 2:25, Malachi 4:5-6, Matthew
17:11 and Acts 3:21. When asked, "In what order are
tongues and prophecies to be used during the service?" He
interjected, "It is NOT to be used at all during the
service! See? "... to glorify God?" Brother
Branham said, "NOT at all" (COD, 533:112).

Asked, "Is there difference between the tongues
spoken in PRIVATE PRAYER and in the churches where INTERPRETATION
is required?" He replied, "Yes"
(COD, 549:240). Unknown tongues are unintelligible, and NOT
edifying to the Church unless they are interpreted. "Now
if there be no interpreter, ANYTIME in the church, ANYWHERE in
the church, keep silent... I heard a precious brother just
recently at the altar, just go down and shake somebody on the
back, and then speak in tongues themselves, speaking it like they
were trying to show them what to do. See, that's kind of
ARTIFICIALLY bringing the Holy Spirit... DON'T do that... they
should keep SILENT in the church. He that speaketh in an unknown
tongue edifies HIMSELF" (COD, 554:276-277, 298).

Let's read what Paul taught.

I Corinthians 14:18-19, "I thank my God, I speak with
tongues more than you all: Yet IN THE CHURCH I had rather speak
five words with my UNDERSTANDING, that by my voice I might teach
OTHERS also, than ten thousand MEANINGLESS words in an unknown
tongue".

Paul denounces as childish and a mark of immature judgment, the brethren's
high valuation of a gift of tongues so fitted to excite great
astonishment, yet so unprofitable for the church as a whole. In
chastising them he says such childishness belongs to Christians
only in respect of evil which may as such be considered innocent,
but in UNDERSTANDING we are to be mature.

Paul appeals to the Law to support his disapproval - not of
the gift of tongues - but of their use without interpretation,
showing that as the Corinthians employed it they were virtually
carrying out the Divine threat in relation to the church which
was pronounced by Isaiah on unbelieving Israel:

ISAIAH 28:8-13, "For all tables are full of vomit and
filthiness, so that there is no place clean" says the
Lord.

"To whom does God imagine He is teaching knowledge?
Whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Why does He speak to
us as if we were babies just weaned from the milk and drawn from
the breasts," said Israel, "Teaching us precept must be
upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon
line; here a little, and there a little".

"For with stammering lips and another tongue will He
speak to this people" said Isaiah. UNINTELLIGIBLY. "God
said to Israel, 'This is the rest wherewith you may cause the
weary to rest; and this is the refreshing': yet they would not
hear. But the Word of the LORD was unto them precept upon
precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall
backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken'."

God pronounced this Divine threat upon unbelieving Israel
because of their contempt for His messengers. They asked
derisively why they should be treated as little children in being
taught line upon line as children are instructed.

In reply, God threatened that because they had despised His
simple teaching in their mother tongue, He would thereafter
instruct them through foreigners - the Assyrians - who would
speak to them in a strange tongue they will not comprehend, and
would treat them as contemptuously and they had treated God's
servants and His Word.

The Assyrians had only the three fundamental vowels a, i, u,
and must have sounded like lisping children against a God who
spoke in their own familiar tongue. Although the Israelites heard
nothing but childlike short monosyllabic words, they were full of
meaning. And because they were ignored, they fell backward, were
broken and snared, and taken captive.

Thus, when God speaks UNINTELLIGENTLY,
He exhibits Himself as a stranger, veiling Himself from those who
will NOT believe, and not as One that is opening His thoughts (as
a friend or Father) to His faithful elect. As Paul says in verse
22, "TONGUES are for a sign, not to them that BELIEVE,
but to them that believe NOT (or have no faith): however
PROPHESYING serves not for them that believe NOT, but for them
which BELIEVE". Or have revelation.

Speaking with tongues is very powerful but it accomplishes
nothing as it is UNINTELLIGIBLE to the ear or to the mind, so the
listener cannot follow the message as was the case when God spoke
to Israel through the Assyrians. Israel called themselves His,
but incurred His wrath. When someone speaks UNINTELLIGIBLY to the
Church, they make it appear as if God has withdrawn Himself as if
through their unbelief, as He did from Israel, and that the
Church has incurred His judgment. This is the effect of using
tongues in the Church without interpretation.

This is how Jesus separates the elect from the non-elect.
Those who are not His sheep may hear, but can't UNDERSTAND His
Voice.

Matthew 13:10-16, "And the disciples came, and said
unto Him, 'Why do you speak to them in PARABLES?'

He answered and said to them, 'Because it is given to YOU
to KNOW the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to THEM it is
NOT given. For whosoever has faith, to him shall be given, and he
shall have more abundance: but whosoever has not, from him shall
be taken away even what he has.

Therefore I speak to them in parables: because SEEING they
see NOT; and HEARING they hear NOT, neither do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which says, 'By
hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you
shall see and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is
waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes
they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them'.

But blessed are YOUR eyes, for they SEE: and YOUR ears,
for they HEAR."

Matthew 11:25, "Jesus answered and said, 'I thank
You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have HID
these things from the wise and prudent, and have REVEALED them
unto babes'."

Jesus spoke UNINTELLIGIBLY to the
seventy as if He were a stranger "Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink
His blood, you have no life in you." Jesus didn't
explain Himself. It was a REVELATION and it pronounced judgment
upon those who could not see It (John 6:53).

He employed the same technique in Matthew 28:19 where He
commanded His disciples to baptize "in the Name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost". Those
without the gift to interpret see God as a trinity of three
persons, and baptize in three of His many Titles whilst His elect
baptize in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as He commanded.

I Corinthians 14:22, "Wherefore TONGUES are for a
SIGN, not to them that BELIEVE, but to them that believe NOT: but
PROPHESYING serves not for them that believe NOT, but for them
which BELIEVE".

Uninterpreted TONGUES, is a judgment
sign, condemning UNBELIEVERS as if by withholding their
understanding, God has turned His back upon them. But PROPHECY is
a sign and means of communication to those who BELIEVE, or
"UNDERSTAND".

As the passage in Isaiah announced judgment upon Israel, the
most powerful speaking on God's part would not change the
unbeliever hardened in sin. Thus Paul argues that in his day,
speaking in tongues without interpretation was a sign from God to
unbelievers, and a pronouncement which would produce no
repentance.

Brother Branham said in the Seven Church Ages, page 42, "As
Joseph stood before his brethren when Benjamin was not with them
he spoke through an interpreter though he knew the Hebrew well.
He spoke to his brethren in another tongue. Did you know that the
first Gentile Age (the head of gold, Babylonian Age) went out
with a message in tongues written on a wall? This age is going
out the same way. The abundance of tongues in this day is a
further proof that the Times of the Gentiles is over and God is
turning back to Israel".

I Corinthians 14:23, "If therefore the whole church
came together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and
there came in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, won't
they say that you are mad?"

Paul is not condemning the gift but exposing the absurdity of
using it in the Church without interpretation whereby NO grace
can be received from God as it can through prophecy. Faith cometh
by HEARING and UNDERSTANDING by the Word of God. We're saved by
grace through faith, or UNDERSTANDING. Without interpretation
it's as though God has shut Himself from our apprehension, as He
would hide Himself from unbelievers.

If "all speak with tongues" (not
necessarily simultaneously), any not familiar with the gift will
think you crazy. After all, there is no sense attending a meeting
where what the speakers are saying can't be understood - not even
by themselves.

I Corinthians 14:24-25, "But if all prophesy (or
REVEAL the faith as in inspired preaching and not especially
prophetic utterance of future events), and there come in one who
believes NOT, or one UNLEARNED, he is CONVINCED of all, he is
JUDGED of all: And thus the secrets of his heart are made
manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God,
and report that God is IN you of a truth."

PROPHESY (or revelation) can bring faith and the baptism with
the Holy Ghost (which is the new birth) to the unlearned or
heathen - TONGUES can not. Inspired preaching can bring
conviction, making a man conscious of his own sinfulness, and
knowing that he's judged, bring him to repentance and redemption.
Prophesy reveals God in the speaker because the Word of God is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart and the Light
or understanding scatters darkness. Uninterpreted tongues are
darkness manifest and have NO redeeming power.

Paul now draws some practical reasons for REGULATING the use of the gifts in the
assemblies.

I Corinthians 14:26, "How is it then, brethren? (Or
WHY?) whenever you come together, EVERY one of you (who HAS a
gift,) has a psalm, has a doctrine, a tongue, has a revelation,
has an interpretation. Let all things be done unto
EDIFYING."

"Decently and in Church order".

I Corinthians 14:27-28, "If anyone speak in an
unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, each
taking his turn; and let one person interpret. But if there be no
interpreter, let the those persons keep silence in the church and
speak to themselves and to God".

We speak with God all week in our prayers and supplications.
We go to Church to hear God speak to us through inspired
preaching. When the gifted ones are unable to contain their own
enthusiasm in the exercise of their gift they create confusion,
and the operation is sensual and not Spiritual. Besides, what is
the sense of listening to God speak if we are unable to
understand His intended message? God is not the author of
confusion, and unless an interpreter of tongues is present, the
inspiration is either not of God or the person is untrained.

I Corinthians 14:29-33, "Let the prophets speak two
or three, and let the other judge. If any thing is revealed to
another that sits by, let the first hold his peace. For you may
all prophesy one by one, (but NOT in a regular saint's meeting,
because messages must first be judged by two or three before
they're told to the Church) that all may learn, and all may be
comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the
prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,
as in all churches of the saints."

There should be just three messages to the WHOLE Church, but
after service there may be additional prophecies to INDIVIDUALS,
as in Brother Branham's prayer lines when he discerned the
thoughts and intents of the heart.

Brother Branham said, "Here's the way I'd run it: I'd
try to find every person in there that had a gift. And I'd have
those people to meet about a hour before the services ever
started in a room to
themselves. Let them sit under the Spirit. And the
first thing you know, one comes down. He's got a gift of speaking
in tongues, and he speaks in tongues. Everybody sit still. And
then one raises up and interprets what he says. Now, BEFORE that
can be given to the church, the Bible says it has to be judged
between two or three witnesses. Now, that is men who has
discernment of spirit (See?), 'cause a lot of times evil powers
gets in there. See? Paul spoke of it.... Tell me a congregation
where evil doesn't sit. Tell me where the sons of God are
gathered together that Satan isn't in the midst of them. It's
everything. So don't frown at that. See? Satan's everywhere.

Now, here we are. Someone speaks in tongues. Now, there's
three sitting there that's got the Spirit of discernment. And one
speaks in tongues and gives a message. Now, it cannot be quoting
Scripture, 'cause God don't use vain repetitions, and He told us
not to. See? So it isn't that; It's a message to the
church."

"... your part in the church should come BEFORE the
main service starts, because the UNLEARNED is going to be among
us... there has to be three men that have the spirit of
discernment ... They write down on a piece of paper. That's what
the Spirit said... The ones with the discernment of spirit - two
or three of them - sign their names to it. ... Then they bring
these messages, lay them right here on the desk... the pastor
walks out ... picks up this. "A message from the Church:
THUS SAITH THE LORD, ... so and so".

Then he takes his message ... Nothing's to interrupt; it's
ALREADY taken place. ...When the message is over, the healing
line starts. Here comes a woman. Someone spoke in tongues and
said she was coming. See? Every one of us KNOWS what's going to
happen. Every one of us KNOWS it. See how the faith begins to
build...

Now if it doesn't happen after they've said it. Then
you've got an evil spirit among you.

(Speaking with tongues is not evidence of the baptism with
the Holy Spirit ... you could be baptized into the Devil's power,
and speak in tongues with the baptism of the Devil's deceiving
spirit, COD, 524:89-90. I know plenty of people that
speak in tongues and hasn't got the Holy Ghost, COD,
1017:96).

Now maybe there's been no message. Now the service is
over; ... the chance comes where everything's in order, then if
the Holy Spirit jumps on him to give the message, then give it
... Then the interpretation comes" (COD 439:124 - 148;
563:Q119; Q221). "Before that person gets out of the
building, let the deacon take them to one side and talk to them
... this is the orders and the way our church does it"
(COD, 883:55).

God only anoints one individual at a time for prophecy or
inspired preaching of His Word. While the anointing is upon an
individual to speak, the rest of the congregation pay attention,
discerning his message that they may learn.

There is a distinction between the office of a prophet and the
gift of prophecy. Prophets are born from the cradle like
Jeremiah, John the Baptist or William Branham. They have THUS
SAITH THE LORD and there is no judging of them. But the gift of
prophecy must be judged before two or three witnesses, and it
will always foretell the future or expose something hidden.
Otherwise it would not be edifying.

Interpreters of tongues don't
"know" or recognize the language of the speaker.
They are hearing what he said in English, and just repeating what
they have heard. This is as it was on the day of Pentecost when
the saints emerged from the upper room, they spoke in Galilaean,
but every one of the different nationalities present HEARD them
in his own tongue. Each sound has some significance. So the
interpreter is PROPHESYING what he has heard under inspiration in
his own tongue. The Holy Spirit has interpreted it for him and he
is speaking THUS SAITH THE LORD what the Spirit has said.

I Corinthians 14:32-35, "And the spirits of the
prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author
of confusion, but of peace (or harmony through agreement), as in
all churches of the saints." (The evidence of His
indwelling Presence is that He guides into ALL truth ... That's
peace or agreement).

By not maintaining control over their enthusiastic (mortal)
spirit those exercising the gifts would appear unlearned and not
led of the Spirit, creating disorder in the Church and confusion
among strangers.

"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it
is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be
under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn
anything, let them ask their husbands AT HOME: for it is a shame
for women to speak in the church."

Paul is referring to the garden of Eden where Eve sought to
learn hidden knowledge through the Devil-incarnate serpent,
usurping her husband's authority, which caused her deception. She
next tried to bring Adam under submission to her by teaching him.
Thereafter God placed man and woman under two separate covenants
and woman serves God as she obeys her husband.

The woman is not to make a public spectacle of her husband or
seek his instruction publicly before many potential commentators
but should ask him to expound the Word at home. Women are
forbidden to preach. The Fall resulted from one woman's deception
woman and her attempt to teach her husband her errors (Genesis
3:16). Yes, a woman may speak with tongues or prophesy but then
she is merely the mouthpiece of the Holy Ghost. Her words are not
her own. Once she has said what was inspired through her, she
sits down without comment, and remains silent.

I Corinthians 14:36-38, "What? came the Word of God
out from you? or came it unto you only? If any man think himself
to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the
things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant."

Paul sets himself against all spiritual presumption regarding
the vindication of his prophetic office and the THUS SAITH THE
LORD of his teaching. And he challenges anyone who claims to be a
prophet or simply baptized into the Body of Christ to fault his
teaching. Paul knew such a one would fail the test for a prophet,
and as the elect receive God's Word, would demonstrate that they
were without the Spirit.

He declared in Galatians 1:9, "If any man preach any
other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be
accursed." He was a prophet who knew that heavens and
earth will change before his prophecy could fail and stated, "God
will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to MY
gospel".

Those who seem contentious about Paul's teachings are without the Spirit of revelation
and ignorant like the "unjust" of Revelation 22:11
after God has revealed "the sayings of the prophecy of
this Book" through Brother Branham, have no
relationship with God. (See also Titus 3:10-11). It's as if God
brought them under judgment, and addressed them in unknown
tongues, as when He spoke to Israel through the Assyrians.

Paul concludes by again emphasizing the preference of
prophesying: inspired preaching and teaching of revelation, to
edify the church and quicken men's souls over speaking in unknown
tongues for self-edification.

I Corinthians 14:39-40, "Wherefore, brethren, covet
to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things
be done decently and in order".

This Church Order laid down by saint Paul in the Ephesian
Church Age has been restored to us in the end-time by the prophet
to the Laodicean Church Age. bb980508.htm